California Borrows $3.5 Billion to Pay for Medi-Cal for Illegal Immigrants

[00:00:06] If you're a California conservative, a libertarian, a moderate Democrat, believe in common sense, or just the sane person, this is the political podcast for you. It's the California Underground Podcast.

[00:00:26] What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning into another episode of the California Underground Podcast, the most trusted podcast for all things California. I am your host, Phil, and riding solo for this specific episode. But that's okay because we have a ton of stuff to get to. If you're an OG listener, it's been a long time since I've actually done a solo episode. So this should be interesting. And you'll hear a lot of me talking and rambling, but that's okay.

[00:00:55] We got a lot of stuff to cover. Most specifically, we got two huge stories that I do want to talk about tonight, including how California is borrowing 3.2, 3.4 billion dollars to pay for Medi-Cal that is insolvent right now, mostly because of the expansion to provide Medi-Cal to all undocumented citizens here in California. That was something that was just recently passed within the past year or so.

[00:01:22] And we also heard talking about voter ID. So a lot of issues going on here in California. We're going to get to those. Those are two big media issues. And of course, it wouldn't be a California Underground Podcast without us starting with a cringe moment. So thankfully, they've been providing a lot of cringe moments. The Democrats, thank you very much for providing that for us. This one actually does come from California. So a lot of them have been more national.

[00:01:48] But this one is actually from right here in Sacramento in our own state house. So let's we got to play the stinger, of course. It's on your laptop and it's then therefore up here in this cloud. Right. That exists above us. Right. Yeah. Yeah, it does exist above us. Thank you, Kamala, for that.

[00:02:10] All right. So this is from the Sacramento legislature here in California. Let's take a look and we will discuss. Good morning, Mr. Speaker, members and guests. Let us pray. Raise your hands. Breathe in deep. Get yourself a new pair of boots, a shiny buckle and a wide brimmed hat.

[00:02:36] And sing praise as we enter the cowboy Carter era. Ask yourself as Queen Bee asked us all, can we stand for something? Now is not the time to face the wind, my friends. Now ain't the time to pretend. Now is the time to let love in. Together, can we stand? Members, now is not the time for alligator tears.

[00:03:03] You see, just like Beyonce, my family lived and died in America. Good old USA. A whole lot of red and that white and blue. History can't be erased. You looking for a new America? Are you tired? Work at time and a half or half the pay? I just pray that we don't crash because I keep my Bible on the dash.

[00:03:27] We got to keep the faith. Members, keep the faith. California, keep the faith. And the members say, amen. If you don't want to give California, anybody else, the idea that California is a crazy lunatic state, probably praying to Beyonce.

[00:03:47] Beyonce is probably not a good thing. When people joke about the fact that California is a godless state, probably praying for Beyonce is not a good way to rebut that argument. I'm not even sure what she was trying to argue for in this whole thing. Like, like, what is she even trying to say here? She's praying to Beyonce.

[00:04:08] You got up. You thought it was a great idea to get up in the Sacramento legislature and pray to Beyonce to ask for everyone to bow their heads and pray to Beyonce. Um, cringe, cringe, cringe, cringe, cringe, cringe, and weird, and kind of disturbing to see that someone got up and wasted assembly or legislative time to pray to Beyonce.

[00:04:31] Either she must be really, I guess she must be a big fan. Like, I know people obsess over pop figures like Taylor Swift or Beyonce. Like, I know people say, praying to Beyonce is a whole other thing. Um, false idolatry is, is something very odd to, to behold in our state Capitol. Um, all right. So let's get into our first story. This is from KCRA. Actually, we have two videos from KCRA.

[00:05:00] They've been putting out a lot of good content. Thanks mostly to Ashley Zavala, who is an amazing reporter up there. Uh, this one is regarding talking about voter ID. Now I will preface this with saying that voter ID is such a contentious issue. One way or the other are a lot of claims back and forth. I think things are blown out of proportion one way or another.

[00:05:23] I think there are a lot of people who think that, uh, California elections will never be winnable because of the fact that they think there's so much voter fraud that is going on. Um, I, I am, I guess the lawyer in me goes, I, you need to show me a lot more evidence and I've done more research and people just say, you know, the, the typical response is, well, you know, you just got to trust him. I like there is voter fraud. Like I'm maybe there may, there might be voter fraud on a small level.

[00:05:52] I'm not going to discount that there is voter fraud at all in California. I'm not going to just, you know, I'm not going to say that there isn't anything to that. That would be like saying like there in absolute is really hard to prove.

[00:06:06] And especially in this fact to say that there's not somebody who votes, who shouldn't be voting or that there is somebody who is trying to vote or, but I, I just, I haven't seen a lot of evidence, um, to show that there is a something that, that would sway elections one way or the other. Now with that all said, I'm not against voter ID, not in the most farthest stretch of the imagination. I don't think there's anything wrong with voter ID. I think we should have voter ID.

[00:06:35] I think it's a very simple process that you should have voter ID. If you show up, you should vote. Um, there was one time I voted in person and I know I'm going to get the pushback of people who say like, oh, you should vote in person all the time. Although the Republican party has come around on the idea of like, you, you should just vote in person as opposed to early ballot or mail in ballot. Um, for those who listen, you know, that my usual routine is I get my ballot. That is mailed to me.

[00:07:05] I sit down, I read, I make a whole night of it, pour myself a nice little glass of whiskey or something. Make it, you know, make it a whole thing. It's a whole exciting thing to vote. You can't do that in a voting booth. You can't pour yourself a glass of whiskey and look over the propositions and all that stuff. Um, and you can't take forever in a voting booth. They expect you to get in and get out. So my whole thing is I take the ballot. I read it. I do my research. I probably put way more effort than most Californians do into my voting.

[00:07:29] So I take that time and I really put my effort into doing my civic duty and learning about the issues, learning about what I'm writing or voting for. And then I take my ballot and I drop it off at a verified location. I don't drop it in the mail. I would never do that. Someone made a good point about how much you trust the U.S. Postal Service. They said put $50 in the mail and mail it to yourself.

[00:07:55] And if you don't want to do that, I mean, it shows you how much you don't actually trust the United Postal Service. Um, but with that said, I'm not against voter ID. In fact, there are a ton of countries that do require voter ID to vote in elections. Uh, one of them most notably is right below us at the Southern border in Mexico. It does require you get a voter ID and it is one day and you have to show up.

[00:08:22] And I believe there's an ink thing or regarding like you have to put your finger in ink to show that you have voted. That's just outside of everything else that goes on in Mexico, you know, not really with the voter ID, but they use voter ID. So this whole idea of like, well, voter ID is racist. Well, you can go down to Mexico and tell them that voter ID is racist. Uh, there are a ton of countries that do use voter ID. I had to look this up and search and find out like the, the complete list.

[00:08:51] I think it said, uh, the organization for economic cooperation development shows 33 of 37 members require voter ID. Um, here in America, like I said, Mexico requires a tamper proof voter ID. Canada asked for a government issued ID. Argentina mandates, uh, an identity for compulsory voting system. Brazil requires a voter ID card often tied to its national ID systems.

[00:09:19] Uh, so many Latin American countries in Asia, India issues an electoral photo ID card to voters over 18. Uh, there Israel requires a national ID card or passport. South Korea and Indonesia use national ID. Japan doesn't require ID at the polls, but issues unique barcoded voter tickets with ID checks possible if discrepancies rise. So there is a way to check to make sure, even though they don't check your ID, they issue you like a voter bar card.

[00:09:47] In Africa, Malawi is moving toward a biometric voter ID for its 2025 elections. Kenya uses biometric voter registration tied to IDs. Many African nations like Nigeria require voter cards often with photos issued during registration. Uh, Australia is the only exception. It stands out as an exception. No ID is required at the polls. Voters just state their name and address, though ID is needed to register. New Zealand also doesn't require ID to vote relying on enrollment checks.

[00:10:16] Uh, now moving to Europe. Norway requires it. Uh, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands. Netherlands. Um, let's see. Italy, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Malta all require national ID identity documents, often compulsory for citizens, doubling as voter ID. Uh, Northern Ireland requires a voter, a voter ID. Uh, and recently, the rest of the United Kingdom, Finland requires ID, uh, but offers free temporary proof from police if needed.

[00:10:46] Czech Republic insists on a passport or national ID card. Hungary and Iceland also require voter IDs. Out of 47 European countries, only the UK historically avoided a nationwide photo ID requirement. But even that's changing. So even the UK is getting into voter ID. So there is a trend to go to voter ID. This is definitely the trend is pushing towards voter ID and getting people to get on some sort of verified system for voter ID.

[00:11:14] Um, I'm in favor. Um, I'm in favor. I'm in favor of getting voter ID because it is very simple that if you are here as a citizen, if you are here and then you are a citizen who has the privilege and the right to vote in our systems, in our democratic elections, you should have to prove that you are who you say you are.

[00:11:32] And this whole notion of, and it's funny how, I don't know if any of you else noticed how in 2020, there was a lot of stuff coming from the right that the election was stolen and X, Y, and Z, and that they need to check the voter rolls and all that. Fast forward to 2024. The same things were being said, but it was from people on the left. It was almost so ironic that you could go on Twitter and hear people say, we need to check the voters. We can't certify the election.

[00:12:02] We need to get the voter rolls. We need to make sure these elections were done properly. Let's look at the data. It's so crazy that this, like they were looking at the numbers and trying to figure out what went wrong and stuff like that. So both sides are guilty of election denialism. You see it now. Trump's been elected. Conversely, on the right, there are people who are denying that Joe Biden won the election.

[00:12:29] Not the point of this episode to get into who won or whether 2020 was contested. That's not really the point. I'm not trying to dredge up that open or open that can of worms. But my point is that voter ID would address these issues of certifying or securing the elections. Right?

[00:12:49] The idea that if you're going to lose and you're going to say it's all because of fraud or because of Russian hackers or illegal immigrants, one way or the other, voter ID does go a long way to say, well, we do have secure elections. We do require you get a voter ID or some sort of ID to show that who you are is the person that is voting so that when we go to the voter rolls, we can be sure that these people are voting. Mail-in ballots? A whole separate issue.

[00:13:19] Mail-in ballots are another issue voter ID won't really get to, for example. We all know that voter, like mail-in ballots, the whole strategy behind a mail-in ballot is you mail it to them and then the Democrats figured out and Republicans have figured it out as well. They're starting to pick up on the game probably why they did so well this election. They figured out that you can't, you can't beat them, join them, really.

[00:13:45] So what happens is you get these scenarios where people are mailed ballots, usually in nursing homes where there's older individuals. They go there, they say, hey, I'm here from such and such nonprofit or whatever organization. And they go, let me help you fill out your ballot. So then this is when ballot harvesting starts is they go and they get these ballots. They go, let me help you fill them out.

[00:14:12] And then they kind of goad them to fill it out in their favor. And then they go and they take those ballots and they return them. So that's a whole thing that I don't think voter ID will address. That's something else that California has to tackle. It just becomes a game of like going out and getting those ballots. Republicans, it took them like an election cycle or two to figure out that, OK, this is the game. You got to play it.

[00:14:36] Voter ID won't change that, but it will address any issues of whether people are voting who shouldn't be voting. And if nothing else, being honest, if nothing else, I do think it will help address the fact that people don't have faith in the elections here in California. And I hear that a lot. I hear that a lot because I always say, you know, I'm always trying to say we should get engaged. We should vote for this or we should support this.

[00:15:02] Well, actually, I don't try and tell you to endorse, but I say you should get involved and vote and participate in your election. Remember, we don't endorse anybody here. But I always try to say that you should get involved and people always kind of push back. There will always notoriously be a comment that there's no point in voting. California is rigged and it will always be rigged until we get voter ID.

[00:15:26] So there's those people who will just never believe that voting in California is legitimate until they actually get some sort of voter ID. Now, with that said, there is a new push for voter ID here in California. And I'm going to go to a video that talks about who is behind this push for voter ID.

[00:15:50] Well, one group says that it has the answer to anyone concerned about election integrity and they want Californians to vote on it. KCRA 3's Curtis Ming looked into their plan and has response from the state's top elections officer. Curtis. Edie and Golston, this group called Californians for Voter ID, says they have a poll showing 68 percent of voters here in California support voter IDs. Their initiative would require proving you are a citizen when you register to vote and force you to show an ID when you cast a ballot.

[00:16:19] And many other countries, as we point out, have voter ID and voter verification programs. So this should be a no brainer. If you want to settle the debate about whether our elections are filled with fraud or honest, settle the debate. Let's do voter ID in California and move on. But the state's top election officer, Shirley Weber, says contrary to inaccurate claims, voter ID is required to be registered to vote and participate in voting.

[00:16:49] California has several security protocols designed to protect the integrity of our elections. And that includes showing an ID when you register. And our office says somebody signs under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen. Californians for Voter ID now collecting a million signatures, hoping you will vote on their initiative in 2026. All right, Curtis, thank you. All right. So Carl DeMaio and Bill Asaley who are behind this. They are behind the push.

[00:17:19] Like Bill Asaley, if you know anything about this show, you know that we have a little history with Carl DeMaio. We're not the biggest fans of Carl DeMaio on this show. And for good reason. We'll get to that in a second about why I, yeah, whenever Carl DeMaio is involved in something, I always kind of step back and go like, yeah, maybe I should trust this. Maybe I shouldn't trust it. But Bill Asaley is a good guy.

[00:17:41] So we'll look past it for now and discuss sort of the merits of doing this right now. So there was, I did a little research on this about the idea of who can vote in like, you know, voter fraud in California. There are certain areas where non-citizens are allowed to vote.

[00:18:05] So in 2016, specifically for local school boards, proposition and pass, and this was in San Francisco, allowing non-citizen parents to vote in school board elections. So that was a very small area of like where you could vote San Francisco local school board. In 2001, Compton local mayoral race allegations of non-citizen voting, multi-year legal drama. Details are unclear on how that came out.

[00:18:31] In Vernon 2012, local city council race overturned due to non-resident voting, not explicitly non-citizen. So that could mean because you aren't necessarily what they're saying, just because it's not explicitly non-citizens, non-resident means maybe you weren't a resident of Vernon when you actually voted, which could be an issue. 2018, this was statewide. There was a DMV error registered, 1500 non-citizens, which was corrected. They say it was corrected.

[00:19:02] That's regarding the fact that in California, there is this sort of, what do they call it, motor voter roll or something like that, where if you go to the DMV and you get your license, they kind of sign you up automatically to be a voter here in California. They found this 1500. I don't know if that's been updated since 2018. It's been a long time, whether or not anyone has looked into this. But it definitely did stoke the kind of claims that, yes, non-citizens can vote in our elections because they're getting registered through the DMV.

[00:19:33] Again, I think it's kind of important to take a step back regarding this idea of voter ID. And again, I'm in support of voter ID. I want to keep saying that because people are going to say you're not in support of voter ID. I guess you're in favor of illegal immigrants voting. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is we also have to be clear about the facts and how kind of blown out of proportion, because if there's one thing that I always push on this show.

[00:20:02] Right. We always push on this show is you have to you have to approach these things factually and not as emotionally as people do. There is a way to get caught up in the emotions on both sides of this issue. And our thing is we always like to do the research, provide the facts. We believe our audience is smart enough to listen to the facts and go, OK, maybe there's not rampant.

[00:20:30] Like, I think there's a lot of people who are outside of California. And I hear this also from people outside of California, family members or friends who say like, oh, there's no point in voting in California. Like, well, how did Gavin Newsom get voted in twice? How did he beat a recall? Like how did the people outside of California? They don't understand like how Gavin Newsom beat a recall and got elected twice. And they always think, well, there's only one reason.

[00:20:55] Like it's because he, you know, because of the legal immigrants, illegal immigrants voted for him. That's how, you know, it's the only reason that Gavin Newsom ever could get elected as the governor. And I think that is such a simplification of the issue here in California. And maybe that's why I get upset about sort of just blaming this whole thing on like, well, we're going to throw our hands up because of the fact we think it's all illegal immigrants and we think they can all vote.

[00:21:25] And that's what's swaying the elections. Like there's no reason that we can ever vote in these elections. I think that's such a simplified way out for a lot of people. I feel like it's kind of like a cop out for a lot of people to just go, well, there's nothing we can do. You know, they're all rigged. The truth is, and this is the truth. There is a two to one discrepancy between Democrats and Republicans as registered voters here in California. Right.

[00:21:52] You're not going to win a lot of elections when you're two to one, when you're outnumbered two to one. There is not much you can do. Right. Especially on a statewide level. Right. You would need to even compete to get close in a gubernatorial race or a statewide race like attorney general or something like that. Let's do it mathematically. Let's break it down. Two to one. Right.

[00:22:21] Let's say it's I think it's forty nine, fifty percent Democrats and twenty five percent. Let's just use those numbers. Make it nice and clean. Two to one. To be competitive in a statewide race. You would have to hope that half of the registered Democrats do not show up. More than half don't show up to vote on this statewide election.

[00:22:44] You would have to hope that a hundred percent of your registered voters showed up, which is unheard of to get a hundred percent of your registered voters to show up. You would probably also need at least half of the twenty five percent of independents to show up for you. The numbers are just not in your favor. Right. They're just not in your favor. Mathematically, it's just not happening until you close that gap a little bit more.

[00:23:14] It's going to be very hard to win a statewide race. And that's why I think people kind of just jump to this idea of, well, it's because of voter ID and the illegals vote and the illegals voted in Gavin Newsom. No, it's because very simply, there are twice as many Democrats in California as there are Republicans or independents. And so because they vote in such large numbers. Democrats like Gavin Newsom win, especially when they're being opposed by a Republican that they despise like a Larry Elder.

[00:23:43] You know, when you you have a Larry Elder running in the recall and he's tied directly to Trump and they just run that Trump ad 24 seven. Guess what's going to happen? Democrats are going to show up and they're not going to vote for the Republican. It's a simple numbers game, but it's easier to say it's because of fraud and illegal immigrants than it is the fact that you're just outnumbered. Two to one.

[00:24:11] So going back to this whole voter ID issue, much of what Carl DeMaio said is true. I agree with him. And it kind of pains me to say that makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit. He's right. A lot of countries do use voter ID. And it would put to rest a lot of stuff about people claiming fraud one way or the other, left or right. They would say, well, that's at least one thing off the list.

[00:24:41] Well, we use voter ID. We went through the list. We went through how many people or how many countries actually use voter ID. It's a lot. A lot of Europe uses voter ID. Basically, everything south of our border uses voter ID. Canada uses some sort of voter ID. Something like 37 states now use voter ID. I saw this in an article about it. Let's see. I think Bill Saley said this.

[00:25:10] 36 states have implemented some form of voter ID identification requirement. Similarly, every country in Europe mandates that in-person voters present a voter ID. So this was said by Julie Luckey, director of California's for voter ID. A poll. This was interesting. This was also in the same article from the California Globe.

[00:25:34] So a poll conducted by Gallup in October of 2024 found that 84% of Americans favor requiring all voters to provide photo identification at their polling place in order to vote. The poll also found that 83% of Americans favor requiring people who are registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of citizenship. So it is okay. That's Gallup. You know, that is that's pretty good.

[00:26:02] Gallup is a reputable polling site. Now, the reason I want to get back to our my kind of whole trepidation. Once Carl DeMaio is involved in something, there is there is a little bit of trepidation on my part, because if we all know Carl DeMaio, you know our thoughts on Carl DeMaio. Carl DeMaio does not do anything that doesn't benefit Carl DeMaio. Now, he's in the assembly.

[00:26:33] He's there. He's trying to make waves. He's trying to do his thing. And he's done this voter ID. He's pushing this voter ID proposition. It's a million signatures. Right. It's a big deal. You got news coverage. You got all that. This is not the first time that Carl DeMaio has tried to do this. This is actually a year old.

[00:26:57] As of last year, Carl DeMaio tried through Reform California to do the same exact thing, to get a proposition on the ballot for voter ID. Now, this is also the same time he was running for this assembly seat. Didn't make it. Didn't get the signatures. Not shocking. And the reason I say it's not shocking, if you know anything about Carl DeMaio, he is very big on.

[00:27:27] As long as I get you to sign up for my pack, that's what really matters. I'm doing this because it drives people to my pack and it makes me more money. He has been accused of this regularly. This is one reason why a lot of Republicans are not fans of Carl DeMaio as a politician.

[00:27:51] Is because he will go in and take credit for stuff that he necessarily did not have a lot of work or anything to do with. One thing was like the recall. He talked about how many, you know, he was such a big part of the recall. When in reality, I think he submitted like something like 900 signatures and they were all bad. So they had to start all over again.

[00:28:15] That's why I say anything that Carl DeMaio is involved in, just take it with a grain of salt that you kind of have to look at like what's Carl DeMaio getting out of this. And I will tell you, I already see what Carl DeMaio is doing here in Reform California. So this, I'm going to share my video right now. So when you go to Carl DeMaio's site, petition to help pass California, California voter ID law.

[00:28:42] Add your name, sign the petition to place it on the statewide ballot. So this is 2024 California election integrity initiative to implement common sense. So qualify this measure for a vote in 2026. So you see that right there. So he admits that he did this in 2024 and then he's trying to do this again. And now he wants to get it on the ballot for 2026.

[00:29:10] So if you put in your information, this is not signing the petition. I want to point that out to everybody. This is not signing the petition. This is not going to get your name on the ballot or your name on the proposition. So it gets on the ballot. What you actually have to go find someone, you have to download it. Usually you have to fill it out, sign out, sign a form and get it to them. You just don't go online and do it this way.

[00:29:36] So this is very deceptive in the sense that you put your name, put your email, you put your phone, your address. Why? Because then it can collect all your information for future fundraising. And when you say receive text messages, text messages may be sent automatic dialing system reply. So you are opting in to get communications from Carl DeMauze Reform California.

[00:30:04] So how many people might rush to this petition help pass California voter ID law, sign up here and think that they have signed it and they will go and they will go out in the community and they'll say, I've signed it. I've signed it and I'm going to get voter ID on the ballot. That's not really what's happening. You are signing it so that you can give Carl DeMauze your information.

[00:30:31] Now, all that said, I respect Bill Asseli. I like him. I think he's a good guy. I think he's a man of integrity. I don't think he'd get wrapped up in something where it's just a way for Carl DeMauze and Reform California to make more money. But, you know, Carl DeMauze is very persuasive. So I will say this. Maybe it gets on the ballot. Maybe it does get on the ballot.

[00:31:01] Maybe the bigger platform in the assembly makes a difference. Maybe. Maybe Bill Asseli's help gets it on the ballot so people can get behind it. A million signatures, a lot of signatures, right?

[00:31:16] But if those numbers for Gallup are correct, then at least we can believe that if 84% of Americans believe that there should be some sort of voter ID, it should not be hard to get people to sign up for voter ID, right? It would be a shock to the California system.

[00:31:38] I think if this, and I'm looking ahead to if this does get on the ballot, if this does pass, if this does happen, I think this might be a shock wave on the same level, if not bigger than Prop 36. Okay?

[00:32:00] I think if it gets on the ballot and passes in California, it will be a shock wave equal to probably more than Prop 36. And I say that because we all know Prop 36, the 70-30 win was an absolute slap to the face of the establishment. Where the establishment said, we don't want Prop 36. You guys are being deceived, blah, blah, blah. It's not that bad.

[00:32:29] I don't know why you guys believe all this hype and stuff like that. The people went out and voted in droves by the millions and supported. It was a proposition that was the only one, I don't know if it's in history, but recently, it was passed by every single county. Keep that in mind. Every single county in California supported Prop 36. Not the blue counties voted against it.

[00:32:55] Every single county in California supported it. Which is unbelievable if you think about that. It is absolutely unequivocally unbelievable that you got 58 counties to agree on one thing and to support one proposition. And it was to get tougher on crime. That's pretty unbelievable. This might be more contested. This would definitely be a lot more contested. There will probably be a ton of money to try and oppose it.

[00:33:26] There was a ton of money to try and oppose Prop 36. It blew up in their face. It did not work at all. Prop 36 passed by a landslide. So who knows? So I'm saying maybe it does get on the ballot. Let's just take Carl DeMaio and our feud with Carl DeMaio and how he doesn't like us out of the equation. Right? Let's take him out of the equation and say we've got something going that is a proposition that is trying to get on the ballot. Let's say it's just trying to get on there. It gets on there. It passes.

[00:33:57] That, to me, might be a political shockwave that shows that California is not completely lost. For all those people who think California is completely lost. And it also puts an end to the naysayers who say we can't vote in California elections. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to vote because they're all rigged and it's just voter ID and the illegal immigrants are just voting for Gavin Newsom.

[00:34:21] It puts those naysayers kind of, it kind of calms them down and they kind of suppress it or at least calms their fears and anxieties about elections here in California. And maybe they become an engaged voter. Maybe those people who were sitting on the sidelines going, I don't think that these elections are fair. Now, all of a sudden, they might get involved. And that changes the game a little bit. I don't think it will be, I will say this caveat.

[00:34:49] I don't think I've heard this comment plenty of times before. I had a dollar for every time I heard this DM to me or commented on a post on Instagram or something like that. Of if there was voter ID, California would be bright red. I don't know about that. Again, registered voters, two to one. There's still way more Democrats than Republicans. There's just nothing. You got to change that. And I think maybe that will be an eye opener to people.

[00:35:17] That if voter ID does pass and these elections are still going the same way, it might be an eye opener to people to go. We need to do something about the voter rolls. And by voter rolls, I mean balancing it out a little bit more. With that said, it will be interesting to watch whether voter ID gets on the ballot, whether it passes. If the numbers are true and Gallup says 84%, then it should pass pretty easily.

[00:35:46] Now, of course, not to be outdone, Carl DeMaio did do his own research just to let everybody know he did his own research. He did his homework. One last thing about Carl DeMaio. Public opinion strategies. This was as of two months ago. They completed a survey of 800 likely voters. And out of those 800 likely voters, 68% were in support of voter ID.

[00:36:15] 51% felt strongly about it. So it says voter ID gets a broad majority support across all corners from San Francisco to rural areas. However, 800 voters is not a lot of people. I'm just going to say that. And it doesn't really break down who they polled. Right? If it's Reform California and they're paying for the poll, who knows who they are?

[00:36:43] They might have asked Reform California people. They have all their information. And if they're already supporting Carl DeMaio and Reform California, why would they not say yes? That's a little polling science for you. I remember from my days being a political science major. Sample size and who you actually ask for makes a difference. And you got to look at that stuff. Anyway, so one step closer to voter ID in California. It's the first step. And we'll see.

[00:37:13] What's going on, everybody? I want to take a quick minute and talk about today's sponsor for our show, Stopbox. If you're not familiar with Stopbox, it is a firearm retention device. No electronics. No biometrics. Nothing like that that can get in the way if there's an oncoming threat and you need quick and easy access to your firearm. It is literally just this finger combination on the top. Push it in. Boom. Hear that nice little click. And it is wide open for you for your firearm.

[00:37:40] It can fit compact, subcompact, even full-size pistols, which is nice. They have added this new magazine, extra magazine holder. Also very nice. My wife and I both have our own Stopbox because we both know that when there's an oncoming threat in seconds count, you don't want to be fumbling around with electronics or keys or biometrics or anything like that. So now listeners of this show can enjoy 10% off their order at Stopbox if they go to stopbox.com forward slash California underground.

[00:38:09] They'll get that discount. Support the show. You can support Stopbox. And this is proudly made in the good old U.S. of A. So go to stopbox.com forward slash California underground for your discount. And let's get back to the show. Let's see. All right. The next story, which I think is even more insane and mind-blowing that people really need to know about.

[00:38:30] This is something that I think people really need to step back and really think about. Right? There are people... When I tell people this story, I've told people this story at least a couple times over the past couple days since this news broke.

[00:38:51] And the universal reaction to this story when I tell people this is one of shock and anger of people here in California. And these are not people who are dyed-in-the-wool MAGA Republicans. They're not people who are, you know, they're not your Fox News, Newsmax watchers. Right? These are everyday people that you know. They could be moderate. They could be independent.

[00:39:21] Left-leaning. Whatever. Tell this story to someone. And you can watch the look on their face about how upset they will get. I'm going to play the video and then we're going to discuss. State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle acknowledged rising Medicaid costs could be for a variety of factors. But Republicans are pointing directly to California's expansion of its Medicaid program to provide health insurance to undocumented people.

[00:39:50] Meanwhile, Democratic leaders are signaling it would be a non-starter to end that program. California lawmakers hoping to get more specifics about Governor Newsom's administration's need for a $3.44 billion loan. This, to cover Medicaid costs it does not expect the federal government to reimburse.

[00:40:09] To ask for a loan of $3.5 billion without any explanation as to what it is, is, in my opinion, absolutely absurd. But it's very typical of the way that Democrats are managing the budget process. Without details, Newsom's Department of Finance notified lawmakers this week in this letter that it was short on Medicaid funds and needed to borrow the money from the state's general fund.

[00:40:35] In a statement, Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas took aim at the Trump administration and the federal government, saying, in part, the greatest threat to health care in California is Republicans and their reckless budget cuts to Medicaid. There are tough choices ahead, and Assembly Democrats will closely examine any proposal from the governor. But let's be clear, we will not roll over and leave our immigrants behind. It comes just weeks after the...

[00:41:00] Keep that in mind. Keep that point in mind because they may be forced into a position where they have to. ...the department told lawmakers in this hearing it has underestimated the cost of providing health insurance to undocumented people through the state's Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal. Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio pushed the administration to say... You think? You think that you may have underestimated?

[00:41:27] You don't... You didn't do comprehensive studies? You think you may have underestimated how much it would have cost to provide free health care to every undocumented immigrant here in California? You underestimated that? It wouldn't be the first time that those in California legislature underestimated how much something would cost. I'm not shocked.

[00:41:53] To say it expected to spend $6 billion this year, but so far it's ballooned to an estimated $9.5 billion. The big story here is they're saying Trump is putting Medi-Cal at risk when in fact Newsom and the California Democrats have put it on the brink of financial collapse. They need to act immediately. They need to cancel the insurance coverage for the illegal immigrants and say that we're going to take care of the low-income citizens of our state first.

[00:42:20] Governor Newsom's office said this ask for a loan is not new and that other states, red and blue, are also grappling with rising Medicaid costs. The governor recently defended California's health care for undocumented people in a recent podcast episode. That's why we do preventative care. That's why we have a different approach because we have sick care in the emergency room that's universal across this country. Well, I totally... People have access all across the country for similar circumstances. You are at substantially higher prices on the back end for the emergency care.

[00:42:49] We are expecting to now see a series of hearings to dissect this issue. We know the soonest one is happening Monday in the state assembly. Reporting at the state capitol, Ashley Zavala, KCRA 3 News. We did reach out to the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees the Medicaid program, for more details. They referred us back to the governor's office. So there you have it.

[00:43:11] It's a $3.2, $3.4 billion loan that the governor is asking the legislature for. So now what happens is they borrow it just for the mechanics of it. They borrow it from the general fund that they have to then pay back somehow. Now, this has been a disaster because it has been a little over one year. Let me say that again.

[00:43:41] It has been a little over one year. And this new program that has expanded it to every undocumented citizen, migrant, whatever here in California. It's already $3.2 billion in the red and it needs to borrow to stay solvent. Let that sink in for a second.

[00:44:07] It's not like this has been going on for years. It's not like this has been 10 years and this is a oopsie. And this was just one year that we don't know why it went out of went out of whack. This was the first year that they have implemented this. And it's already in the red. Okay.

[00:44:35] 3.2 or 3.4 doesn't really matter. It's a lot of money in the red. And I agree with Michael Savage, who was the guest on that podcast. Michael Savage, who was a longtime San Francisco resident, conservative talk show radio host saying, I hate it. Right. I forget where I heard it. And it was a great point. It was a really, really great point. Now I can't remember where I heard this from.

[00:45:03] It was someone had said that they have figured out how to exploit the one kind of weakness, the overglaring weakness of Western society or Western civilization. And that is empathy. It is always this empathetic call to give more. You have to give more. It is your duty to give more. Why don't you want to give more? You should give more.

[00:45:33] Why don't you pay for this? Why don't you pay for free health care? Why don't you pay for free health care that we're not really checking who's getting it? Why don't you pay for free health care for literally everybody here in the state? Why don't you pay for free health care? And we're not verifying who's signing up for it or how many times they're signing up for it. Right.

[00:45:56] That's the empathetic argument that a lot of Democrats or far leftists make here in California. Why don't you? Why don't you want to pay for this? Right. You should want to pay for this. You should want to support this. Let's put this into let's let's start talking some numbers here.

[00:46:15] OK, so I ran some numbers and based on some research, it suggests that the cost per undocumented immigrant covered by Medi-Cal is approximately ninety five hundred dollars per year. Right. Based on recent state expenditure data, approximately it costs sixty five hundred dollars for non illegal immigrants under Medi-Cal.

[00:46:37] Now, OK, let me give you a little history of how this program continued to expand and expand, expand to the point where everybody was sounding the alarm bell and said this is going to break Medi-Cal and bankrupt. The state was absolutely right. So those people can go ahead and take a victory lap. So in 2015, California extended full scope Medi-Cal to allow all low income undocumented children.

[00:47:07] That's how it started. It started with that argument of, well, we're going to allow for low income undocumented children. How could you be against that? It's hard to argue against that. Politically, it is very hard to argue against that you want children to get sick and die, whether they are undocumented or documented. It's very hard to argue against that. That's the first step. The first step was in 2015. This was back when Governor Brown was in office.

[00:47:36] In 2019, young adults age 19 through 25 became eligible regardless of immigration status. So pushed it a little bit more, as you can see, a couple of years, four years later, this was now Gavin Newsom had pushed it a little bit more. This is how it works. It's not a overnight one thing. It is a all at once. It's a little incremental, right?

[00:48:05] That's why people say you got to be careful of the slippery slope of it starts here and kind of continues to go that way. And especially here in California, right? In California, everybody who is paying attention usually gets a little wary about when a law is introduced. A lot of people who are savvy political people or people who just have been following politics in California for a long enough time look at this and go.

[00:48:32] I don't like where this is going, right? I don't like where this is going. I know this is going to end up here. Now, the politicians will tell you. They will say to you something like, no, you're being crazy. That's that's not how it's not going to happen like that. Don't worry about it. And then you end up here. And then everybody who said back in 2015, this is where it starts. It will end here. I'll get proven right.

[00:48:57] In 2022, then adults age 50 and older were included. Again, pushing it a little bit farther. Finally, in January 2024, as of January 1st, 2024, covered adults age 26 to 49 estimated to add around 700,000 new enrollees because they said undocumented or not.

[00:49:23] And that was a year ago, a year ago, a little over a year ago. And we are now just getting the numbers that they are 3.5, 3.4, 3.2, whatever. Let's just say three and a half billion dollars in debt. And by in debt, I mean they need to borrow more money because they underestimated how many people were going to join up. I don't think people who were skeptical of this underestimated how many people would join up. And.

[00:49:52] This could be. I know Gavin Newsom is trying to change his image. I know he's trying to do this whole podcast. I know he's trying to moderate. I know he's trying to show people what a great guy he is. He's a smart guy. He's a smart politician. He's figured out that I can do this podcast. And I can try and moderate because I'm talking to Republicans. I'm talking to the architects of the MAGA movement, as he likes to say. I'm talking to the look at me.

[00:50:20] I'm reaching across the aisle when nobody else wants to reach across the aisle. I, Gavin Newsom, and my wonderful hair are reaching across the aisle. And talking to people because that's what we need in America. You can see it right now. But he's forgetting the fact that all this stuff. Is creeping up behind him. So now 700,000 new enrollees.

[00:50:46] So this was based on a 2020 report by the Legislative Analyst Office projected that nearly 1 million undocumented immigrants would gain full coverage under the expansion. So this was the LAO's estimate. They were pretty close. Detailed demographic analysis using data from the Migration Policy Institute suggests the following breakdown for California's 2.7 million undocumented immigrants in 2019.

[00:51:17] About 13% were under the age of 18. 18 or 34 or 43%. 35 to 54 were 35%. And 55 and older are 9%. Assuming 8% are low income and eligible for Medi-Cal based on income limits at 138% of the federal poverty level. We estimate that of the children, 281,000 are on Medi-Cal.

[00:51:45] Young adults, 19 to 25, 389,000 are on Medi-Cal. Adults, 26 to 49. 1 million are likely on Medi-Cal. And adults, 383,000. So, but given the LAO's estimate and reports of 702,000 and 2.1 million, you get the point.

[00:52:08] So, the reason why they think it costs so much is because of pent-up demand for healthcare among undocumented immigrants, which makes sense. If you are someone who knows what it's like when you don't have health insurance and all of a sudden you get health insurance, what's the first thing you do? If you haven't had health insurance for a couple years and you can't go see a doctor, what's the first thing you do when you get health insurance? You go see a lot of doctors, right? Like you all of a sudden go, you make that primary doctor, you get your physical, you go to your dentist, you go to your eye. Like you get everything. You're like, I'm going to check everything off.

[00:52:41] So, that is sort of the rundown of where we are at right now in California. They need 3.4, 3.5 billion dollars to cover the debt or the deficit, I should say, the deficit spending of Medi-Cal. This is from California Globe.

[00:53:08] Newsom just confessed on Wednesday, this past Wednesday, that California's Medi-Cal is insolvent. As California Congressman Kevin Kiley noted, quote, Let me say that again.

[00:53:34] 3.4 billion dollar loan to continue making payments just for this month. This month alone. That's not the rest of the year. And again, I am emphasizing this so that it sticks with you. This program, this expansion is a little over a year old and it is already deeply in the red. Deeply in the red.

[00:54:03] They estimated 6 billion. It's 9.5 billion. This is the high-speed rail for Medi-Cal right now. It is the high-speed. And of course, they know that they can't go to the federal government. There's no way they're going to Donald Trump and the federal government to say, hey, can you give us a loan to help pay for all these undocumented citizens or undocumented migrants who are in our state we're providing Medi-Cal for?

[00:54:32] There is no way that that's happening. There is no way that they can do it. That's why they're sitting here going, the only option we have is we've got to borrow this money from our own general fund. Now, what happens? Does that mean it's not available for something else for another emergency? Yes. It means it's not available for that emergency if something happens. So you've got the state already is on the hook for the wildfires, right? It's already on the hook for the wildfires.

[00:55:00] Now it's $3.4 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal for this month. And it's only March. We are barely out of the first quarter in California, and we're already looking at monumental deficits in spending here in California. And they don't want you to look at the California high-speed rail. They don't want you to look at that. They don't want you to see where they're spending that money. This is a quote.

[00:55:27] That's the maximum amount California can borrow and will only be enough to cover bills for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, through the end of the month. Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer told Politico. Assemblyman Bill Asaley asked in a budget committee hearing, quote, is there any limit to how many people can sign up for this new program? It's an entitlement. So if a million people come across the border tomorrow and come sign up for Medi-Cal, can they do that?

[00:55:55] The response from the state of California in that hearing was, quote, I don't believe there's any requirement or lack of requirement. There is no requirement. There is little to no requirement. A good friend of mine had made an interesting point about open borders.

[00:56:25] And I've used it, and I give her credit. She's one of the first real live libertarians I had ever met in my life. And I think I've now gone past her, past libertarianism, minarchism or anarcho-capitalism. She made this point, and I think it's an amazing point to bring up.

[00:56:55] I'm fine with open borders, but the tradeoff is you have to get rid of the welfare state. And I think most libertarians are coming around to that kind of thinking. I think there's a lot of people like in the Mises Caucus who have come around to this line of thinking. Open borders works if you have no welfare state. And you want as many people to come here as possible because they're going to contribute to society. They're not going to be a public charge.

[00:57:25] Right? That used to be a law in the United States. You couldn't come here unless you were going to contribute to society. You couldn't be what they call a public charge. Back in his first administration, Trump tried to get the public charge rule put back in place. I think it got caught up in the courts. I actually helped work on that case and do some arguments for a nonprofit that worked on that case. It's an amazing point. And I want to emphasize that because that's the situation we're facing here in California right now. Right?

[00:57:56] The situation we're facing is an open border, at least under President Biden, was an open border with all the welfare in the world. Right? In 2024. And what happened? Over a million people joined up.

[00:58:18] And their estimates of 6.5 billion or whatever, 6 billion was blown out of the water and increased by over 50%. Because so many people showed up and signed up for it. Because why not? It's an incentive. Would you blame them? If you could get access to free health care right now paid for by the state, why wouldn't you? Right? And I think that's really what it comes down to. Is this.

[00:58:46] If you're going to open the borders, you can't have a welfare state like this. You can't. You can't be that empathetic. You can't be that empathetic where you say, we're going to give it to everybody. It looks great for your political ad. It looks great to your constituents, your far left Bay Area or West Hollywood, West LA constituents.

[00:59:15] It looks fantastic. They get to pat themselves on the back. I had written an article or in my blog a long time ago. About how the coastal elites don't really care about the poor here in California. They don't. They just don't. As long as they can continue to go to their fancy restaurants. As long as they continue to make the money that they continue to make.

[00:59:43] They don't care about the poor in reality. They will happily vote and check off that we're going to give this amount of money. To undocumented migrants here in California that we're going to cover them all because they can go to sleep at night going. I'm such a virtuous person. I'm so wonderful. I'm a virtuous person. But in reality. It does. It will come back to hurt them.

[01:00:11] And I don't know how long the empathy will continue to go. I don't know how much longer this empathy or this empathetic pitch is working. As we saw in 2024. I think the empathy thing is not working as much as they planned it would. With Trump's reelection. I don't think that empathy card works as much anymore. I don't think the empathy card works as much anymore. When you have cities that are mostly a half a billion dollars in the red. And they are spending too much money.

[01:00:41] They are giving away everything. And then those cities then turn around and charge you more as a citizen to pay for all said services. Because they got to close the gap somehow. Right? Like they don't know. Democrats don't know how to close the gap in budgets other than beg, borrow, and steal. Right? They don't know any other way. They don't know that you can cut budgets. They don't know you can cut services.

[01:01:02] Todd Gloria made the ultimate sacrifice that he fired one of the chief managing officers of the city of San Diego. And saved us a whopping $120,000. Out of a budget of $5 billion. With a deficit of over $300 million. They don't know how to cut. They don't know how to say no. They don't know how to say. Because to them, if they cut off that stuff, they cut off their voters.

[01:01:32] And they cut off the spigot that gets people to vote for them. So I don't know how long the empathy will continue to last. It's changing, at least on the homeless front. The homeless front, I think, changed when we lost. When people lost sight of where the $24 billion went. And we don't know. When that news got out, I feel like the empathy changed. I feel like the attitude changed in California regarding homelessness.

[01:01:58] I mean, you're seeing Bay Area cities like Fremont now criminalize people who stay in encampments too long. You can't stay in one spot. You can't help them either. You're saying, look, if you refuse home services, we're trying to home you. We've spent all this money on housing services. If you don't use it, we're going to put you in jail. Sorry. We've done everything we can to be as empathetic as possible.

[01:02:26] We might have reached the end of the road with empathy. And if it's the end of the road here with empathy in California, it's probably the end of the road along with the other states. Right? And I think we are almost at the end of that road with empathy. I'm not saying don't be empathetic in your life. I'm not saying that. I am a big believer of private charities and those that can help people.

[01:02:54] If you can help people and you can donate your time or your money, I always support that. I think private charities and helping people is on 100% the way to go. I do not believe the government knows what they're doing to provide charity for people. I'm not that. I, you know, we're not that at all. We believe in helping people. We donate to charities. We donate our time because we think it's incumbent on us to do it, not just hand over more tax money to the government that then loses it and then doesn't know what to do.

[01:03:24] But I think the empathy and politics argument might be coming towards a close. For now. It always, you know, politics is cyclical. It changes. But I think at the end of the day, I think the empathy argument is coming to a close. And we may be entering an anti-empathetic or non-empathetic era of American politics.

[01:03:47] Where if even here in California, the empathy is running out for the homeless, for the undocumented, then things are changing. Things are changing in California. And who knows? With voter ID, things may change way faster than they can even think is going to change. And things may change rapidly overnight here in California. All right.

[01:04:16] That's our show for today. If you want to make sure you like, share, subscribe, review, hit that notification bell. It all helps with the algorithm. Helps people find us. Make sure you review on the Spotify app. I didn't know you could do this, but make sure you review on Spotify and Apple and all that stuff. If you listen on audio, if you're on YouTube, leave comments like and the 100% free way that you can support this show. It doesn't cost you a dime to support the show. You can share it with somebody. Let someone know that you find this show enjoyable.

[01:04:46] You find it informative. And with that, we'll see you on the next one. Have a good one. Thank you for listening to another episode of California Underground. If you like what you heard, remember to subscribe, like, and review it. And follow California Underground on social media for updates as to when new episodes are available.